Anei te mihi mahana kia koutou I tenei wa. What a year we have had with our Māori students.

Our year started with a whanau night meeting some of the whanau of our tauira. This was a successful night and I had the opportunity to connect with some of the new whanau and whanau I had yet to meet. It is always an awesome experience meeting whanau who are willing to give up their time to attend events at such a busy time. I’m definitely looking forward to our whanau night in 2017.

From there we reunited the connection between Waiopehu and Horowhenua Colleges and became apart of te ropu kapahaka o Ngawai O Manawhenua again. This was a very exciting time for us and we found a huge number of tamariki interested in Kapahaka. This was not a competitive year for our kapahaka so we got the chance to really connect and learn many of our popular waiata from around the rohe. Tauira also participated in a kapahaka noho which had an outcome to build stronger connections within the ropu as well as teach our tamariki the process of a powhiri. Our tamariki left there on a high and feeling like they are now a part of the ropu. The ropu participated in Pae Rangatahi hosted by Tararua College in term three. 

Nearly all of the kura from around this rohe participated. It was a huge success and each group showed outstanding performances. We have managed to perform at a few different events also, such as the Kapahaka Festival at Coley Street School and The Horowhenua Electra Business Awards in Levin, as well as at Te Takere. During the final term of this year the focus has been on preparing for the 2017 nationals. We are aiming to make it through to the nationals as these are hosted by Manawatu Horowhenua rohe in 2018.

This year’s theme for Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori was Reo Tautoko – behind you all the way, which was about using te reo Māori to support people, to inspire, and to cheer them on. We used social media hugely in this week’s events and set two main challenges for our tauira to inspire them to use Māori phrases. Kyle Williams-Simeon took both challenges out. For more info check out our facebook page called: Manawatu College Wiki o Te Reo Maori 2016. We ended the week off with a BBQ for all the students.

In other events we had Te Rau Whakaara come in from Massey University to speak with our junior students about pathways. It is always so nice to have Māori tertiary students come and share their experiences. We have had many more great experiences this year within our Te Reo classes. The junior classes have expanded a lot and have enabled us to explore tea o Māori further.

Nga mihi nui mo te tau hou.

Naku iti nei,

Whaea Mereana.